The Hindu Business Line : `Centre to adopt job-oriented policies'

The Union Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, has said that his Ministry has decided to rope in bodies such as the National Bank for Agriculture And Rural Development (Nabard) and the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to create a national network of producers' cooperative bodies in agriculture, horticulture and other related primary sectors to market and export products.

The aim is to ensure that the producers get maximum returns on their efforts and jobs and livelihoods, particularly of women, be secured.

"We have enough dollars and exports now. But we also have appalling joblessness.

" In order to create maximum jobs in sectors like agriculture and handloom and other related areas, we should eliminate middlemen so that the real benefits could reach the primary producers," he told a news conference here on Friday.

"I oppose export of raw materials like `Isabgol', iron-ore etc. We should now refocus and reorient our policies to maximise export of value-added finished products in the next three to four years," he said, regretting that 55 per cent of India's total exports to China were of iron ore and 45 per cent of 100 million tonnes of iron ore produced was exported.

`Co-operative sector weak'

Later addressing a function at Anand, he said the biggest challenge before India's cooperative sector was to survive and grow despite political interference on one side and stiff competition from the free private sector.

On the Government part, he felt there was an urgent need to relook the sector's power and management and removal of some of the political constraints to enable it to compete on equal footing with the large private sector houses.

Earlier inaugurating the packaging film plant of IDMC Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NDDB at Anand, Mr Ramesh cautioned on the challenge before India's cooperative sector, especially in fighting against malnutrition.

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